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Skilled but out of work


Drawing from personal experience, people I know and economic reports, I think there is more to South Africa’s skills shortage than the alleged non-existence of those skills. I’m sure they are there but are not being properly utilised. The “shortage” is consequence of labour politics, the economy and prejudices of employers.

Having been unemployed and unable to find work in my specialisation of accounting, to which I devoted almost 20 years study and work, I realised the field is closed to me and must move on. Economists will say I’m a “discouraged job seeker” and will not be counted as unemployed – to be unemployed one must be actively looking for work. Realistically, I probably won’t have another permanent job again.

I was the finance officer and accountant for a non-profit organisation in Cape Town. In September 2012, out of the blue, management called me to a meeting. A retrenchment consultant - like the George Clooney movie Up In The Air, told me I allegedly “cost too much”, was “overqualified” and "frustrated" in a job they deemed beneath me. She said a bookkeeper could do my job at half the salary and my post was at the functional level of a data capturer.

How they determined this, I don’t know, because no one had ever discussed my job with me and they did not know what it really entailed.

The organisation was financially stable with a good donations stream. Ironically, a post they cut in another department was later filled after a donor insisted it was essential and budgeted for.

It was obvious management – an opaque bunch allegedly allegedly imbued with Christian principles – had decided to dismiss me without understanding the organisational and financial impact. As the de facto finance manager, I tried to advise them and the board about the broad financial environment, but to coin a phrase, one cannot fill a cup that is already full.

My retrenchment did not make sense. I was the first trained professional ever employed there. Donors and auditors praised the organisation for its reporting and systems, which I instituted. On the other hand, management and colleagues had no technical knowledge of and were out of their depth with accounting and financial management. I rescued management many times, and after my advice was ignored. Even after been told I had to go, my boss, the director, still called on my expertise because he admitted he was not technically competent to address accounting matters.

After I was gone my former department doubled in staff size, yet they had claimed they needed to cut costs! There were confirmed reports my “replacement” and a couple of others allegedly embezzled a significant amount of money (they were fired). A competent management would not have allowed this to take root - but they did not want a trained person employed there.

Ironically, the current incumbent of my job has the title of financial director, a post they claimed they did not need.

Updated 30 April 2016.

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